为什么懂得感恩对你的健康有好处

为什么懂得感恩对你的健康有好处

As a physician, I have helped to care for many patients and families whose lives have been turned upside down by serious illnesses and injuries.

作为一名医生，我帮助照顾了许多病人和家庭，他们的生活被严重的疾病和伤害搅得天翻地覆。

In the throes of such catastrophes, it can be difficult to find cause for anything but lament.

在这类灾难的阵痛中，除了悲叹之外，很难找到其他理由。

Yet Thanksgiving presents us with an opportunity to develop one of the healthiest, most life-affirming and convivial of all habits -- that of counting and rejoicing in our blessings.

然而，感恩节为我们提供了一个机会，让我们养成所有习惯中最健康、最肯定生活、最欢乐的一种——数数自己的幸福，并从中得到快乐。

Gratitude's benefits

感恩的好处

Research shows that grateful people tend to be healthy and happy. They exhibit lower levels of stress and depression, cope better with adversity and sleep better.

研究表明，感恩的人往往是健康和快乐的。他们表现出较低水平的压力和抑郁，更好地应对逆境，睡得更好。

They tend to be happier and more satisfied with life. Even their partners tend to be more content with their relationships.

他们往往更快乐，对生活更满意。甚至他们的伴侣对他们的关系也更满意。

Perhaps when we are more focused on the good things we enjoy in life, we have more to live for and tend to take better care of ourselves and each other.

也许当我们更专注于生活中我们所享受的美好事物时，我们会有更多的生活目标，也会更好地照顾自己和彼此。

When researchers asked people to reflect on the past week and write about things that either irritated them or about which they felt grateful, those tasked with recalling good things are more optimistic, feel better about their lives, and actually visit their physicians less.

当研究人员要求人们回顾过去一周，写下让他们恼怒或感激的事情时，那些负责回忆美好事物的人更乐观，对自己的生活感觉更好，实际上也更少去看医生。

It is no surprise that receiving thanks makes people happier, but so does expressing gratitude. An experiment that asked participants to write and deliver thank-you notes found large increases in reported levels of happiness, a benefit that lasted for an entire month.

毫无疑问，接受感谢会让人更快乐，但表达感激也会让人更快乐。在一项要求参与者写感谢信和发送感谢信的实验中，他们的幸福感有了很大的提升，这种提升持续了整整一个月。

Philosophical roots

哲学根源

One of the greatest minds in Western history, the Greek philosopher Aristotle, argued that we become what we habitually do. By changing our habits, we can become more thankful human beings.

西方历史上最伟大的思想家之一、希腊哲学家亚里士多德认为，我们习惯于做什么，我们就会成为什么。通过改变我们的习惯，我们可以变得更加感恩。

If we spend our days ruminating on all that has gone poorly and how dark the prospects for the future appear, we can think ourselves into misery and resentment.

如果我们每天都在反复思考那些糟糕的事情，以及未来的前景是多么黑暗，我们就会认为自己处于痛苦和怨恨之中。

But we can also mold ourselves into the kind of people who seek out, recognize and celebrate all that we have to be grateful for.

但我们也可以把自己塑造成这样一种人，去发现、认识和赞美我们应该感恩的一切。

This is not to say that anyone should become a Pollyanna, ceaselessly reciting the mantra from Voltaire's "Candide": "All is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds." There are injustices to be righted and wounds to be healed, and ignoring them would represent a lapse of moral responsibility.

这并不是说任何人都应该成为盲目乐观的人，不断地背诵伏尔泰的《老实人》中的咒语:“在这个世界上，在所有可能的世界中，一切都是最好的。”有需要纠正的不公平，有需要治愈的创伤，忽视它们将代表一种道德责任的缺失。

But reasons to make the world a better place should never blind us to the many good things it already affords. How can we be compassionate and generous if we are fixated on deficiency?

但是，让世界变得更美好的理由不应该蒙蔽我们，使我们看不到世界已经提供的许多美好事物。如果我们执着于缺陷，我们怎么能富有同情心和慷慨呢?

This explains why the great Roman statesman Cicero called gratitude not only the greatest of virtues but the "parent" of them all.

这就解释了为什么伟大的罗马政治家西塞罗不仅把感恩称为最伟大的美德，而且把它称为所有美德的“父母”。

Religious roots

宗教根源

Gratitude is deeply embedded in many religious traditions. In Judaism, the first words of the morning prayer could be translated, "I thank you." Another saying addresses the question, "Who is rich?" with this answer: "Those who rejoice in what they have."

感恩深深植根于许多宗教传统中。在犹太教中，早晨祷告的第一句话可以翻译成“我感谢你”。另一种说法针对“谁是富人”的问题，回答是:“那些为自己拥有的东西而高兴的人。”

From a Christian perspective, too, gratitude is vital. Before Jesus shares his last meal with his disciples, he gives thanks. So vital a part of Christian life is gratitude that author and critic G.K. Chesterton calls it "the highest form of thought."

从基督徒的角度来看，感恩也是至关重要的。在耶稣和他的门徒分享他的最后一餐之前，他表示感谢。感恩是基督徒生活中如此重要的一部分，以至于作家兼评论家G.K.切斯特顿称之为“最高形式的思想”。